Cyberpunk Playing Cards by Elephant

Ben Jones, the founder of the Elephant Playing Cards and an Australia-based "graphic design experimenter," says he was inspired to create the Cyberpunk line of cards when he asked himself, "what happened to family game night?!" Jones set out to design the perfect deck for "games enthusiasts, casual gamers, collectors, and cardists to be a go-to deck in any situation. They're not your typical Bicycle deck," adding, "they're something a little different."

Above: one of the jokers, the suicide king and the queen of clubs, all reminaged in a cyberpunk theme as cyborgs - humans merged with machines.

Jones says his mission is to "reclaim family time from TV, social media and online games. Elephant Playing Cards was created to make cards so interesting that everyone would want to unplug and enjoy some quality time with friends and family over a game of cards."

The cyberpunk genre, which is characterised by cutting-edge technological developments like artificial intelligence and cybernetics set against societal collapse and dystopia, has gained popularity as a theme for tarot and playing cards, including Fractal Seed and Cyberpunk 2077 Tarot.

Elephant's Cyberpunk line of playing cards combines themes of humans fusing with technology in the future, resulting in a vision of "dystopian enhanced humanity." Jones describes this new brand as "ideal for family game night, poker with the guys, or giving as a gift."

Jones commissioned Ukrainian illustrator and concept artist Egor Klyuchnyk to create the futuristic artwork, which has cyborg-like courts and jokers and backgrounds made of circuit boards and machinery.

The deck is available in metallic purple, green, gold, and red colour variations (reviewed here), with the box embossed with metallic foiling. The deck includes 52 playing cards, two jokers and an 'Our Story' card. Jones successfully funded the project on Kickstarter with AU$ 37,316 (roughly £20,600) from 807 backers. The pack is manufactured by Shenzhen Wangjing Printing Company (WJPC).